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Allen wins in Williamstown to cap off Bay Crits

West Australian Jessica Allen has finished the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic with another victory for ORICA-SCOTT women on the final day in Williamstown.

It was the second consecutive win for the outfit following Australian champion Amanda Spratt’s victory yesterday. They also claimed the best team and sprinter’s jersey.

After an aggressive start, Allen escaped with two riders for company just after the mid-way point of the 45 minute race but made her move alone with two laps remaining.

“I felt that I was the strongest in that breakaway,” Allen said. “I was patient, which isn’t one of my strengths, just waited and with two laps to go just thought I am going to give it everything.”

“I’m really happy with my form at the moment and the girls rode unreal this week. We really came together as a team and we’re looking forward to the nationals now.”

Spratt started the final day of racing two points behind the overall leader Valentina Scandolara, but Allen said the team made the decision to focus more on another stage win.

Former Australian criterium champion Sarah Roy was the first of the movers before Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten also tried a number of attacks, including with race leader Scnadolara.

In the end it was Allen’s break with Ellen Skerritt (Ale Cycling) and Lucy Bechtel (Specialised Women’s Racing) that proved the winning move.

“We were only two points behind GC but we thought for us to get a stage win was probably going to be more in our favour,” she explained. “If Spratty got up the road without Val , that would have been great for us but we wanted to be aggressive right from the start and that’s what we did.”

Attention immediately turns to the Australian championships in Ballarat with the national criterium championships tomorrow night.